scholarly journals PROBABILISTIC METHOD OF RICHARD SWINBURNE AS A MEANS OF CONSTRUCTING A NEW THEISTIC COSMOLOGY

2019 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 16-21
Author(s):  
Ihor Gudyma

In the article a comprehensive study of the probabilistic method of the famous British theologian and philosopher Richard Swinburne. This approach serves as a means of constructing a new theistic cosmology. Richard Swinburne's philosophical and theological project is ambitious and significant. He prefers to combine the truths of faith and the achievements of modern science. However, this should be under the auspices of the religious worldview. This combination is carried out by the author from the standpoint of probabilism. It relies on the selection of inductive evidence of the existence of God and ultimately must demonstrate the proper probability of a central position in the religious worldview – "God exists". Such a combination is, according to the author, the living and active soul of his own "hypothesis of theism". This hypothesis is intended to explain the emergence of the universe, the causes of its occurrence, the existence and functioning of its permanent laws, its orientation to the emergence of animals and the appearance of man. The author widely uses the inductive proof of the existence of God. But he also does not avoid deduction. He deduces the main attributes of God through deduction, interprets the "God-world" relation, examines the essence of God's providential care of the world, together with ethics, gives his vision of the theodicy. The construction of a new theistic cosmology is realized mainly within the limits and means of the apologetics of Swinburne. In this system of knowledge, various ways of proving the existence of God are investigated. Subsequently they receive a proper theological assessment. And, then, it's about faith that seeks understanding. It is shown how the large-scale and ambitious project of constructing a new theology, the author failed to fully realize. The article states that Swinburne prefers to preserve the theoretical orientation of his theorizing, as well as their intellectual respectability and significance. And hence, it significantly degrades its own concept, because it does not fully utilize the theoretical resources of classical theism with its reliance on Revelation.

2019 ◽  
Vol 624 ◽  
pp. A60 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Laverick ◽  
A. Lobel ◽  
P. Royer ◽  
T. Merle ◽  
C. Martayan ◽  
...  

Context. Fundamental atomic transition parameters, such as oscillator strengths and rest wavelengths, play a key role in modelling and understanding the chemical composition of stars in the universe. Despite the significant work under way to produce these parameters for many astrophysically important ions, uncertainties in these parameters remain large and can limit the accuracy of chemical abundance determinations.Aims. The Belgian repository of fundamental atomic data and stellar spectra (BRASS) aims to provide a large systematic and homogeneous quality assessment of the atomic data available for quantitative spectroscopy. BRASS shall compare synthetic spectra against extremely high-quality observed spectra, at a resolution of ∼85 000 and signal-noise ratios of ∼1000, for approximately 20 bright BAFGK spectral-type stars, in order to critically evaluate the atomic data available for over a thousand potentially useful spectral lines.Methods. A large-scale homogeneous selection of atomic lines is performed by synthesising theoretical spectra of literature atomic lines for FGK-type stars including the Sun, resulting in a selection of 1091 theoretically deep and unblended lines in the wavelength range 4200–6800 Å, which may be suitable for quality assessment. Astrophysical log(g f) values are determined for the 1091 transitions using two commonly employed methods. The agreement of these log(g f) values are used to select well-behaved lines for quality assessment.Results. We found 845 atomic lines to be suitable for quality assessment, of which 408 were found to be robust against systematic differences between analysis methods. Around 53% of the quality-assessed lines were found to have at least one literature log(g f) value in agreement with our derived values, though the remaining values can disagree by as much as 0.5 dex. Only ∼38% of Fe Ilines were found to have sufficiently accurate log(g f) values, increasing to ∼70–75% for the remaining Fe-group lines.


2019 ◽  
Vol 117 (2) ◽  
pp. 1000-1008 ◽  
Author(s):  
Badri N. Dubey ◽  
Elia Agustoni ◽  
Raphael Böhm ◽  
Andreas Kaczmarczyk ◽  
Francesca Mangia ◽  
...  

Cytosolic hybrid histidine kinases (HHKs) constitute major signaling nodes that control various biological processes, but their input signals and how these are processed are largely unknown. In Caulobacter crescentus, the HHK ShkA is essential for accurate timing of the G1-S cell cycle transition and is regulated by the corresponding increase in the level of the second messenger c-di-GMP. Here, we use a combination of X-ray crystallography, NMR spectroscopy, functional analyses, and kinetic modeling to reveal the regulatory mechanism of ShkA. In the absence of c-di-GMP, ShkA predominantly adopts a compact domain arrangement that is catalytically inactive. C-di-GMP binds to the dedicated pseudoreceiver domain Rec1, thereby liberating the canonical Rec2 domain from its central position where it obstructs the large-scale motions required for catalysis. Thus, c-di-GMP cannot only stabilize domain interactions, but also engage in domain dissociation to allosterically invoke a downstream effect. Enzyme kinetics data are consistent with conformational selection of the ensemble of active domain constellations by the ligand and show that autophosphorylation is a reversible process.


1996 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 259-270 ◽  
Author(s):  
Don Fawkes ◽  
Tom Smythe

Richard Swinburne has given a defense of arguments for the existence of God (and in particular of teleological arguments) in his book The Existence of God (1979/1991). This paper argues that such theistic arguments fail, and poses some general problems for theistic arguments. Swinburne's use of a principle of simplicity is not given adequate justification and, if justified, works against theism. There are adequate rebuttals to Swinburne's arguments that depend upon there being few particles of basic physics, universal laws of nature, cogent cosmological argument, and temporal order in the universe. Theistic arguments falter on malleability, on going well beyond evidence, on anthropomorphism, on treating consistency as if it were evidence or explanation, on selective and inconsistent use of principles, and on a lack of any serious attempt to disprove hypotheses. All of this serves to support the conclusion suggested by Hume's posthumous theological writings that theistic arguments are so malleable, profligate, overreaching, equivocal, anthropomorphic, selective, inconsistent, and uncritical as to be inept.


1992 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 347-350 ◽  
Author(s):  
Quentin Smith

The anthropic principle or the associated anthropic coincidences have been used by philosophers such as John Leslie (1989), William Lane Craig (1988) and Richard Swinburne (1990) to support the thesis that God exists. In this paper I shall examine Swinburne's argument from the anthropic coincidences. I will show that Swinburne's premises, coupled with his principle of credulity and the failure of his theodicy in The Existence of God, disconfirms theism and confirms instead the hypothesis that there exists a malevolent creator of the universe.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paolo Di Sia

Metaphysics, as discipline dealing with the most fundamental aspects of reality, studies the essence of entities, leaving to particular sciences the study of empirical, specific, changeable and unstable aspects. In this sense metaphysics is close to ontology, tackling problems as the existence of God, the being in himself, the immortality of consciousness, the origin and meaning of the universe. Speculative physics pushes its interest to metaphysical questions too, both at atechnical (mathematical) level, and at the level of thought (in relation to philosophy). In recentyears interesting concepts and ideas have been considered and developed, involving the latest unified quantum-relativistic theories and the consequences on reality deriving from them.The search for a meaning of life, one of Anscombe’s themes, finds ferment in the search for meaning about the existence of our universe in itself and as a possible part of a multiverse containing it.The problem of measurement in quantum mechanics appears from the application of themathematical formalism to macroscopic situations and the central position of the observer in this process has produced a deviation towards a metaphysical subjectivism. There are controversial aspects about the role of consciousness in the process of reducing the wave function of quantum mechanics. This narrows the field of validity of some fundamental principles during the interaction between microsystems and macrosystems, with consequent diversification of thedefinition of the ontological state of consciousness and reality. (Local) holism has often been linked to Wittgenstein. From Wittgenstein’s answers to the paradoxes of communication and conceptual relativism, a tension emerges in his vision of linguistic games and in his mental experiments, traditionally interpreted in contrasting ways. This tension can be better understoodthrough some reflections by Wittgenstein on Einstein and his theory of relativity.


2020 ◽  
Vol 634 ◽  
pp. A30 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicola Malavasi ◽  
Nabila Aghanim ◽  
Hideki Tanimura ◽  
Victor Bonjean ◽  
Marian Douspis

The Cosmic Web is a complex network of filaments, walls, and voids that represent the largest structures in the Universe. In this network, which is the direct result of structure formation, galaxy clusters occupy central positions that form the nodes and these are connected by filaments. In this work, we investigate the position in the Cosmic Web of one of the most well-known and best-studied clusters of galaxies, the Coma cluster. We make use of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 7 Main Galaxy Sample and of the Discrete Persistent Structure Extractor to detect large-scale filaments around the Coma cluster and analyse the properties of the Cosmic Web. We study the network of filaments around Coma in a region of 75 Mpc in radius. We find that the Coma cluster has a median connectivity of 2.5, in agreement with measurements from clusters of similar mass in the literature as well as with what is expected from numerical simulations. Coma is indeed connected to three secure filaments which connect it to Abell 1367 and to several other clusters in the field. The location of these filaments in the vicinity of Coma is consistent with features detected in the X-ray, as well as the likely direction of infall of galaxies, such as for example NGC 4839. The overall picture that emerges of the Coma cluster is that of a highly connected structure occupying a central position as a dense node of the Cosmic Web. We also find a tentative detection, at 2.1σ significance, of the filaments in the SZ signal.


Author(s):  
Basit Bilal Koshul

This chapter analyses Muhammad Iqbal's continuing relevance in three parts. The first part examines the ‘One/Many’ problem in the universe through Iqbal's concepts of khudi and the reality of God. It shows how Iqbal's philosophy is an ‘achievement possessing a philosophical importance far transcending the world of Islam’. The second part offers an illustrative example of how religion and science come into dialogue in Iqbal's thought. It shows Iqbal critiquing and repairing the cosmological, teleological, and ontological arguments for the existence of God by combining the findings of modern science with the wisdom of the Qur'an. Lastly, the third part suggests that the dialogue between religion and science at the core of Iqbal's thought can be better understood through the lens provided by Charles Peirce's pragmatism.


1998 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 91-102 ◽  
Author(s):  
QUENTIN SMITH

Richard Swinburne, Is There a God? Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996, pp. vii+144.Swinburne's Is There A God? presents a brief, updated version of his book, The Existence of God, in which Swinburne argued that criteria used in scientific reasoning could be used to argue that God probably exists. This new book is designed for a wider audience than professional philosophers. Nonetheless, there much that is new and of interest to philosophers in Is There a God? For example, there is a discussion of Stephen Hawking's cosmology, some new ideas in the philosophy of mind, and a new way of formulating the argument that theism is a simpler explanation of the universe than is materialism.


1996 ◽  
Vol 76 (06) ◽  
pp. 0939-0943 ◽  
Author(s):  
B Boneu ◽  
G Destelle ◽  

SummaryThe anti-aggregating activity of five rising doses of clopidogrel has been compared to that of ticlopidine in atherosclerotic patients. The aim of this study was to determine the dose of clopidogrel which should be tested in a large scale clinical trial of secondary prevention of ischemic events in patients suffering from vascular manifestations of atherosclerosis [CAPRIE (Clopidogrel vs Aspirin in Patients at Risk of Ischemic Events) trial]. A multicenter study involving 9 haematological laboratories and 29 clinical centers was set up. One hundred and fifty ambulatory patients were randomized into one of the seven following groups: clopidogrel at doses of 10, 25, 50,75 or 100 mg OD, ticlopidine 250 mg BID or placebo. ADP and collagen-induced platelet aggregation tests were performed before starting treatment and after 7 and 28 days. Bleeding time was performed on days 0 and 28. Patients were seen on days 0, 7 and 28 to check the clinical and biological tolerability of the treatment. Clopidogrel exerted a dose-related inhibition of ADP-induced platelet aggregation and bleeding time prolongation. In the presence of ADP (5 \lM) this inhibition ranged between 29% and 44% in comparison to pretreatment values. The bleeding times were prolonged by 1.5 to 1.7 times. These effects were non significantly different from those produced by ticlopidine. The clinical tolerability was good or fair in 97.5% of the patients. No haematological adverse events were recorded. These results allowed the selection of 75 mg once a day to evaluate and compare the antithrombotic activity of clopidogrel to that of aspirin in the CAPRIE trial.


2004 ◽  
pp. 36-49 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Buzgalin ◽  
A. Kolganov

The "marketocentric" economic theory is now dominating in modern science (similar to Ptolemeus geocentric model of the Universe in the Middle Ages). But market economy is only one of different types of economic systems which became the main mode of resources allocation and motivation only in the end of the 19th century. Authors point to the necessity of the analysis of both pre-market and post-market relations. Transition towards the post-industrial neoeconomy requires "Copernical revolution" in economic theory, rejection of marketocentric orientation, which has become now not only less fruitful, but also dogmatically dangerous, leading to the conservation and reproduction of "market fundamentalism".


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